Residents strive to defeat the heat

It’s hot! All week temperatures soared into the 90s making it at best uncomfortable, but for those who work outside, it was downright unbearable.

By Zachary Comeau/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

By Zachary Comeau/Daily News staff

Posted Jul. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 20, 2013 at 8:04 PM

By Zachary Comeau/Daily News staff

Posted Jul. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 20, 2013 at 8:04 PM

» Social News

It’s hot! All week temperatures soared into the 90s making it at best uncomfortable, but for those who work outside, it was downright unbearable.

Tim Goncalves, an employee of Speedy Scapes, a landscaping company based in Hopedale, said the heat has been aggravating.

"It sucks," he said plainly on Friday, when the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning. "Usually we take one or two breaks on a job, but on days like this, we’ll be taking about six or seven breaks – about one every half hour to hydrate and cool down."

Overheating, Goncalves said, isn’t as much of a problem as exposure to the sun.

"My skin is killing me," he said, hiding in the shade of the company’s shop on Fitzgerald Drive. "It’s too hot to have a shirt on, but then I get burnt."

On Friday, Goncalves said he and co-worker Cody Hodney were already sweating at 9 a.m. while only picking weeds. The duo was forced to begin their day earlier than usual to avoid the heat and sweltering sun.

Hodney said his energy usually slips away during the end of a summer workweek, but this week has been "harder than most."

Dave Douglas, an employee of Midas on East Main Street in Milford, said although the shop isn’t in direct sunlight all day, the temperatures in the poorly-ventilated garage tend to reach triple digits – 111 degrees on Thursday, he said.

By 2 p.m., however, Douglas said the sun finds its way into the shop. By 6 p.m., he said most of the garage is in direct sunlight.

"It really heats up," he said, adding that heat from car engines adds to the discomfort.

Typically, Douglas will drink "a few liters" of water in the summer, but he said conditions in the shop on Thursday forced him to chug 3 gallons.

"It just takes some common sense to stay hydrated," Douglas said.

U.S. Postal Carrier Patricia Hamlet, clung to her Enduracool Instant Cooling Towel for some relief while sitting in her mail truck .

"It’s going to be a very long day," she said, only an hour into her route.

On the mail truck’s dashboard sat a small, metal fan. But, she said, there was no escaping the heat, which seemed to radiate from the truck’s metal floor.

"The heat just comes straight up from the bottom," she said.

In her 10 years as a U.S. Postal Service worker, Hamlet said this week has been the hottest she can remember.

"Every single day," she said. "We haven’t had a break."

Doug Leary, an employee of construction company P. A. Landers, was filling in the cracks of a Main Street, which was positioned in full sunlight.

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Leary said there wasn’t much he could do. "You can drink all the water you can, but you’re just going to sweat out as much as you put in," he said.

Zachary Comeau can be reached at zcomeau@wickedlocal.com or 508-634-7556.